By Jacob Miller
After the University of Iowa class of 2019 broke enrollment records, the class of 2020 shattered them.
As of Aug. 24, this year’s freshman class contains 5,698 students. The official class size will not be determined until the 10th day of classes, when officials compile the class census. In 2015, the freshman class was 5,241, and in 2014 the freshman class was 4,666. In a span of two years, the university saw a increase of more than 1,000 freshmen.
This kind of increase in two years is fairly uncommon. For Brent Gage, the associate vice president for Enrollment Management, and Kirk Kluver, the director of Admissions, it was one of the greatest growths they have seen in a two-year period at the UI.
“I don’t know if there are too many other large public universities that have seen a first-year class growth over a two-year period compared to Iowa,” Kluver said. “They might be out there, but there are few and far between nationally.”
This year’s freshman class is projected to have a 16 percent increase of in-state students straight from high school compared with last year’s number. The UI also had an increase in out-of-state student enrollment by 2.2 percent.
Growth at the UI is typically considered to be a good thing, but sometimes it can be challenging if it happens too fast. Quadrangle Residence Hall was torn down this summer, eliminating 358 beds for students in on-campus housing. Many students who are living in the dorms are feeling the pressure from overflow of students.
“More and more people coming and wanting to get their education from Iowa is a good thing, but on the other hand, we are seeing real constrictions in the residence halls this year,” said UI Student Government President Rachel Zuckerman.
To deal with the increase, the UI is in the process of building a new residence hall on Madison Street. The new dorm will not only provide more rooms for students to live in, it will also have another dining center for students to eat at. This will relieve some pressure and traffic from the Burge and Hillcrest dining centers next year.
“If we are going to offer you admission, we’re going to keep up our end of the deal, and we are going to make sure you have the resources,” Gage said. “I think we have all heard of schools that grow too fast and too big, and then students get there, and it’s not quite what they bargained for. We think maybe we have found our sweet spot.”
For the UI, the ideal freshman enrollment class size is between 5,500 and 5,700 students. That way, the UI can provide students with the resources that have been advertised to them throughout the recruiting process. Gage was adamant about giving the credit to the Admissions staff, which recruits students, as one of the main reasons the UI has been able to grow this quickly.
“They just do a great job of helping students make the right decision,” Gage said. “We don’t want students to come here if we are not the right fit for them, and I think the relationships they form, the way they communicate, and the information they provide helps students and families really feel comfortable that they made the right decision.”
